Death's Door
by Rach42
Summary: What if John didn't escape from Ultra in Death's Door? What would happen if Jedikiah believed he could make John his "Golden Boy" again? No Slash
1. Chapter 1

**This is just an idea for a story I had while watching the mid-season finale. I think the father son relationship between John and Jedikiah is a really interesting part of the show. If you want me to continue this story please leave a review. Also I'm open to ideas about what direction you think this story should take, leave your idea in a review.**

John woke up with a start, causing his whole body to tense in pain. Glancing around to get his bearings, he found he was lying on a cot in a 7x5ft bare room. He recognised where he was instantly. The same reinforced steel door, dead bolted from the outside. The same built in cupboard complete with 2 changes of clothes and a pull out toilet. The same markings scratched into the concrete wall beside his bed, counting down the days he was last here. This was his room when they first bought him here, before he decided to cooperate. John grimaced as he tried to sit up, finally noticing the suppression cuff on his left arm. There was no way he could escape from this room, he'd tried a hundred times before.

John sat on the bed, glaring furiously at the wall ahead of him. This was Jedikiah taunting him, he thought. Reminding John that he was powerless and Jedikiah was in control. That he was the same kid he was 15 years ago, someone that Ultra could lock up and no one would ask questions about.

His cell door opened and Jedikiah walked in, grinning arrogantly.

"Finally woke up, I see. You had me worried for a minute there kiddo." His voice mocking. His grin only widened, when John refused to look at him.

"Go to hell." He whispered. Jedikiah's eyes shone with amusement.

"Now, now Johnny. That's no way to behave, not now you're finally home." John turned only to glare at him. If looks could kill, Jedikiah knew he'd be in trouble.

"Are you just here to gloat?" John muttered bitterly.

"Gloat about what. This is where you're supposed to be, you belong here John. Don't you understand that?" John returned his gaze the wall with disinterest. Jedikiah ran his hand through John's dirty blond hair, turning his head gently so there eyes met. "Your little gang of rebels will never fully accept you John. Not if they ever find out about what you've done. The only person who will ever love you for who you are is me, Johnny. And because of that I'm willing to be lenient with you for running away to join the enemy."

"Save me the whole "join us" speech, you already know what my answer is." Swatting Jedikiah's hand away from his face. John turned back to face the wall in front of him.

"Very well. Looks like you're going to be spending a lot of time in this room then."

With that, Jedikiah turned away, tapping the door twice to signal to the guard to let him out.

_TTP_

John knew what he was in for. He'd been through this process before. When he first arrived at Ultra, John wasn't a very big fan of rules. This resulted in him being thrown in this room for punishment many times. The first step was being beaten. Check. This was always followed by isolation.

They left you alone for days, sometimes weeks at a time, delivering food while you slept. This was to make you crave company, to make you desperate for someone to come in the room and talk to you. Occasionally, if a guard was very sadistic, they wouldn't deliver the food for a few days. It was always more difficult when this happened, locked up and alone, with no distractions, you very quickly start to believe you've been left for dead.

John also knew the isolation made people easy to manipulate. After this you were usually allowed one visitor, who visited multiple times over a week or so. When you finally were allowed this visitor, you'd listen to them and agree with whatever they say, because at that point you were just desperate to hear another voice. It was always Jedikiah who came to visit John when he was a kid. John knew the theory behind doing this, the person who visits you after isolation is up was supposed to form a bond with you, to make you trust them. Even though John knew they were manipulating him, he had never been able to bring himself to hate Jedikiah.

TTS

Jedikiah walked towards his office doors. He felt content, happy even. Over the years he had grown attached to John. The boy had always wanted make him proud and had always exceeded his expectations. And now, John was home and no one was taking him away this time.

**Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter was a little rushed let me know what you think.**

He wasn't sure how long he'd been locked up. There were no windows in his cell, no clocks to track time with. No food had come through the door as of yet either. At a guess, he'd say he'd been locked up 1 and a half, maybe 2 days.

The cell door opened and a familiar woman entered carrying a bottle of water. John's eyes darkened at the sight of her. She looked different, her eyes were now dull and she looked old, older than she should.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" She looked at John, her eyes tired.

"Get up." He paused, watching her cautiously, suddenly unsure whether going with her was in his best interest.

"John." She warned. John knew he didn't have a choice, she could call a guard in if he refused. As he got off the bed, a wave of nausea swept over him. He used the wall to steady himself, bringing his other hand to an aching spot on his temple.

Sam turned to the door, knocking it twice. "Open up." She turned back to John, scanning over the bruises on his face and arms, knowing the worst ones would be covered up. "We're not going far, think you can walk it?"

John nodded. They exited the cell turning down the long corridor, closely followed by two guards. John knew they were in the centre of the building, six storeys up. The Restricted Section. On a good day, it would be difficult to escape the building from this point. While injured, it would be damn near impossible. His body was crying out with pain with each step, but John ignored it, trying to walk as normally as possible and maintaining a steady poker face. He would not look weak in front of them.

After a few minutes they reached a door, through its window he could see it lead to a small laboratory.

"This is where I leave you." Sam stated blankly, turning away from him to stare back down the corridor. He tried to remember what he'd done to piss Sam off. A guard pushed John through the door and into a dentist's chair. Instinct kicked in causing John to fight, he kicked out at the guard but his previous injuries slowed him down. The guard avoided easily, overpowering John, cuffing his arms to the frame of the chair.

"John, welcome back." The man who spoke was sitting to the side of the chair. He wore an expensive suit and held a Cuban cigar in his hand. John had never seen this man before, but he got the feeling the man knew a lot about him. "From what I hear, your time away from Ultra has been," he paused searching for the right word, "eventful." His mouth twisted into a mocking smile. John remained silent, refusing to acknowledge the man's presence.

"There are a number of ways we can proceed. The simplest and most painless way is for you to tell me what I want to know." He paused, waiting for any response from the boy in front of him. John still didn't respond, refusing to even let himself look at the man. "What's the matter, John? Don't feel like talking about it?" John cocked his eyebrow defiantly, challenging the man before him.

"You will tell me, John. I can be very persuasive. So where are the tomorrow people hiding?" John prepared himself to be read, filling his head with a strong emotion. Anger. Anger about being locked up at Ultra. Anger about them experimenting on him, turning him into a killer. Anger that they made him kill Roger, a man who continually believed in him and tried to help him.

Fortunately, the man did not try to invade John's mind. A moment later, John felt tingling in his hands. The sensation was replaced by burning that quickly spread through his arms and into his torso. He thrashed against his restraints unable to still his body. His whole body felt like it was on fire. He felt that the blood coursing through his veins was boiling, bubbling in side of him. He tried to keep quiet, tried not to give them the satisfaction of hearing him scream but failed miserably after only seconds. The pain intensified, John couldn't breathe, struggling against himself he let out another painful scream, causing his voice to crack.

The pain took over his senses. His vision was blurred, all noise was muffed in the background, as John fell into unconsciousness.

"STOP" Jedikiah rushed into the room. "Who authorised this?" He looked round the room accusingly.

"I did." The man in the suit replied. "I know that boy, he only learns things if they are beaten into him. If we are going to extract information from him, he needs to know what I can do." Jedikiah stared at the man.

"Take him back to his room." He said the guards. "You know as well as I do that John will never willingly give betray the rebels. This exercise was pointless. You just wanted to show him who was in control. Next time you want to see him, Smythe, you tell me first. This session was not authorised." He told the man, composing himself before following the guards to John's room.

"I don't need your permission, Price." He heard the man, Smythe, call after him.

TTP

John woke up as the guards were dragging him back to his room. Sam was following them. They roughly placed him on his bed, leaving him without a second glance. As Sam turned to leave, he finally blurted out what had been on his mind since he first saw her, "Why are you mad at me Sam?"

Her hand hovered over the door handle for a split second before she turned back to him. She looked at him with wonder, contemplating the best way to tell him. "Things changed after you left John. You changed everything." Her eyes were fixed on him, she radiated anger.

"They took 13 children of our kind and turned them into soldiers. Killian left and turned against Ultra, betraying everything we were taught. Then you left. Jedikiah thought we were becoming a liability, that we were likely to turn against him. He got it in his head that Roger had turned us against the company before he left. He subjected every one of us to a telepath. She searched our heads looking for signs that we were traitors. If the telepath detected anything, you were executed."

John was speechless, his face paled as she was talking and his eyes darkened, filling with dread. It was difficult to take in, many of the people he had grown up with could be dead.

"Who's left?" His hands trembled as he asked the question and he refused to look her in the eye.

"Only me and Alex passed the test." Sam stated, she was pleased with the reaction from John, who was clearly in shock. She had had to live through the executions, watching her friends die, remembering the horrors for the past 5 years. Letting John know it was his fault made her feel much better.

**Please review ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

The cameras in John's cell showed that he was asleep. Jedikiah took the opportunity to take in a meal; a bowl of porridge, chicken pasta, whole grain bread, two pieces of fruit and a 2 litre bottle of water. Jedikiah went to extra effort to provide John with a decent meal, knowing that the boy would need his strength in the next few days.

Entering the room, Jedikiah placed the tray of food on the table at the end of the bed. He sat down on the floor, back against the wall, hands cradling his knees. He couldn't help feeling a tinge of regret as he stared at the sleeping boy in front of him. He wanted John with him, where he could keep him safe but before John could take his rightful place at Jedikiah's side, he would have to prove himself to Smythe, the founder. Smythe was sadistic at the best of times, but he had reason to take a special interest in John and there was only so far Jerekiah could go to protect him.

Jedikiah remained with John for the remainder of his break, watching him as he slept peacefully, before returning to his office to continue with work. When John awoke hours later, the only evidence that anyone had been there was the tray of food left on the table at the end of the bed. Seeing the water and not knowing when more would come, he forced himself to be disciplined, only allowing himself a few gulps before moving on to the pasta.

The first time he'd been put in isolation, when he was 13, he had refused to eat any food. At the time, it felt like his only way of rebelling against Ultra, of getting some control back in his life. After three days of John not eating, he was rudely awoken from his sleep by two guards and sedated with a needle to the neck. When he next awoke, he had been fitted with a Nasogastric PEG tube, this meant Ultra could feed him without his consent. After a week of John complying and eating of his own free will, the tube was removed. This taught John a lesson that was reaffirmed many times over the years; at Ultra there were no choices, you do what the company wants or they make you suffer.

John slowly got up, he briefly checked his wounds for infection, before changing into the black t shirt and combat trousers left in the cupboard opposite his bed. He piled his dirty blood stained clothes by the door, fairly confident that someone would remove them.

He sat on the bed, head against the wall, looking down in despair. He couldn't stop thinking about the others. Most of his old Unit, the people he was raised with, had trained with everyday were dead. During his days as an agent, a soldier, he could always trust them to have his back. He had run away, turned his back on them and many had died because of it.

No wonder Sam was mad at him, she should hate him. He had left his Unit to die. John eyes filled with unshed tears, he swallowed, blinking rapidly, refusing to show weakness to the men behind the lenses, watching him in his cell. John was overcome by dread and guilt, but he could feel anger slowly begin to consume his body. Jedikiah had put his Unit down like animals.

Would Jedikiah have done that to John? Before he had left, would Jedikiah have executed him based on what a telepath speculated that he might do in the future? He'd seen Jedikiah do terrible things, but he never expected, that the man he used to think of as a father, would murder the people he'd trained since adolescence so lightly.

**TTP**

Cara was restless. John had been at Ultra for nearly 3 days and no one could find any trace of him. She hadn't been able to contact him telepathically and Stephen hadn't been able to locate him at Ultra. John's files had always been highly classified, making it very difficult for Stephen to access them and find out where they were keeping him.

Stephen suggested that he continue trying to go to Limbo, that somehow his dad would know how to find John. Honestly, the idea just made Cara angry. Stephen wanted to waste time and resources trying to get to a place that might not even exist while they could be looking for John. Her John, whose life was more in danger with every passing moment.

There had been whisperings among the rebels that John was dead, but Cara knew that wasn't true. It couldn't be. She would have known if he had died, she would have sensed something. No. He couldn't be dead. Ultra had to be holding him somewhere, but she couldn't attempt a rescue until she knew where.

**TTP**

"I intend to have a little chat with John tomorrow; I do hope you won't interrupt this time, Jedikiah. Your attachment to that boy is beginning to concern me. It's starting to affect your ability to do your job properly." The founder sat behind a large oak desk, setting a cigar alight, while addressing Jedikiah.

"John Young does not affect my ability to do the job. You, personally, have put a lot of effort into making John the perfect soldier, both before and after he came to Ultra. I'm simply concerned that during your interrogation, you will damage a valuable asset to the company."

"The boy won't be damaged, not permanently anyway." The founder gave Jedikiah a humourless smirk. He opened out blueprints of the city's underground tunnels, studying them briefly. "From what I've seen, the rebels are mostly civilians. They're no match for our agents, that's why John's hiding them underground. The moment I find them, we can send a Unit in to take over there base. It should be a simple operation."

"John won't reveal anything to you tomorrow. The easiest way to get the information from him is by taking it telepathically. Torturing him tomorrow will be futile and could delay his recovery. I don't feel it's a necessary risk to take." Even as he argued, Jedikiah knew the founder would not change his mind.

"Not necessary, no. But it will be interesting to see how long he lasts."

**Another quick update, the next chapter is likely to have some flashbacks in it. It will explain a few things. Please Review. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took me a few days to update, I have exams next week so life's a bit hectic atm. Thanks for all your reviews.**

_The boy, no older than 8, briskly walked down the empty street. He was alert, quickly turning towards the slightest sound or movement, he sounded breathless. A bitter wind stung the boy's face, he shuddered, stuffing his hands into his hoody and continued walking nervously. He needed to find somewhere to go. He'd freeze to death spending the night out here. And if they found him… he wasn't going back. They'd kill him after what he had done. _

_He could see a car approaching in the distance and ran towards the closest ally, pushing himself flat against its wall, hoping to disappear. The car passed, not noticing him and he let out a steady breath. He continued down the road, spotting a shed peeping over the fence of someone's back garden. Figuring that a shed was his best option of shelter for the night, he climbed over the fence taking refuge there._

_Inside, the shed was cluttered, he cleared himself a space in one of the back corners and using a ground sheet for a quilt he fell asleep, unaware that someone had been watching him._

_The founder had been watching the boy from a distance for the past hour, scanning the boy's brain telepathically, evaluating every decision the kid made. _

_"You were right Roger, the boy has broke out." He transmitted his thoughts telepathically._

_He heard a reply within seconds. "This is the earliest I've ever heard of a break out happening, usually breakouts happen in their teenage years. What d'you think caused it?"_

_"A traumatic event. His foster parents hurt him, he got scared and accidently discovered his telekinesis. From what I saw in his head, he destroyed their living room." The founder thought with a smile._

_"It happened like you predicted it would. Stress causing an early discovery of his abilities. Your little experiment seems to be working. So where is the kid now?"_

_"He's safe." This was all the information the founder revealed before blocking the connection. A teenaged boy approached him, greeting him with a stoic face._

_"Heard you had a job for me." The boy said._

_"Yes James, I do. There is a boy sleeping in that shed, blond hair, blue eyes, answers to the name of Johnathon. I want you to follow him tomorrow. Your job is to keep an eye on him, teach him how to survive in the real world. If you can do that for the next few months, without making him suspicious as to why you're helping him and you'll be greatly rewarded."_

**TTP**

John awoke to Sam entering his room_, _he stood up to leave, avoiding making eye contact. He needed to talk to Sam, but that couldn't happen right now. He more urgently needed to prepare himself for what was going to happen today. The walk to the lab felt too quick, he would have dragged it out more if he could have. He entered the room with the guard and was cuffed to the chair again.

"Good morning, John." The founder said with a menacing smile. John ignored him, a response that made the founder's grin widen. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. But we both know which way you're going to choose, so let's just get on with the pain part, shall we?". His voice was cheerful, as sadistic smile gracing his face.

John closed his eyes, prepared himself for the excruciating pain that he knew was coming. It was still a shock when the burning started, more intense than before, the pain pulsated through his body. He gritted his teeth, tensing his body, trying his best not to scream. The pain became more intense and John tried to concentrate on the anger growing inside of him, he flexed his arms against the restraints, feeling it grow stronger. The pain turned his anger into an intensive rage. As the feeling intensified, objects around him that weren't fixed down began to shake, violently trembling before slowly hovering a few centimetres above ground. The pain stopped suddenly and the objects dropped to the floor. The founder was staring at John in shock. The suppression cuff should have stopped that from happening.

John's breathing was laboured, his hair damp with sweat. He tried to regain control of himself realising that his whole body was trembling. He looked at the suppression cuff, realising he had overpowered it, and tried to teleport out. Nothing happened. He tried to undo his restraints with telekinesis but still nothing happened. He was still powerless. The cuff was still working. Exhaustion quickly swept over John.

The founder abruptly stood up to leave, muttering something to the guards about taking John back to his room. John wasn't paying much attention, he was exhausted, drifting in and out of consciousness.

He was dragged back to his room by guards, Sam following them. As they paced him on the bed, she looked at him, noticing his right arm was still trembling. She could see his face was much paler than usual and his eyes were barley open and unfocused.

"Well you always were full of surprises." She said, taking a moment to look at him before turning to leave.

**Please review :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows. Warning; this chapter contains some violent ideas… sorry :/ As there is literally very little plan for this story at the moment, feel free to comment on what you would like to happen in a review and I may incorporate your idea into the story. I do not own The Tomorrow People. **

"He's more powerful than I first thought. I mean, I knew he was powerful, but this… this is interesting." The Founder grinned at this revelation. The shock of John overpowering a suppression cuff had long gone, being replaced with excitement for the potential that John could have. "We have to experiment with ways to enable him to use that power."

"We already know John's powers always respond best when he's in pain or under stress," Jedikiah replied, not taking his eyes off John's file. "But I have to say I'm concerned, if you allow John to access his full power, what's to stop him from using it against us?".

"Even at full strength that boys no match for me. Genetics and experience influence the strength in our abilities and John has a lot of experience to gain before he could ever match me. As long as I'm present in the room when John's at full strength, we won't have a problem." The founder stated casually. "Besides, we can always have Dr Annex develop a stronger suppression cuff for when he's more capable of using his abilities at full strength."

Jedikiah was tense, he really didn't like the idea of John being in pain and it would take a lot of pain to help him access his full power. Their theory was that the more times John accessed his full power, the easier it would be to access. Like with all learning, the more times electrical impulses travelled down his brains neural pathway that allowed him to access the power, the easier it would be for him to access the power when needed. Unfortunately, that would cause John a lot of pain, there had to be another way.

"Cara Coburn," Jedikiah said thoughtfully, "his girlfriend, we could use her to cause John the stress he would need to access his power. That way we wouldn't have to physically damage an asset to the company."

As Jedikiah began talking about Cara, images of her and her Ultra file were bought to a computer screen in the founder's office. The founder studied her face inquisitively.

"Do you really think John cares about this girl enough to cause amount of stress we need?"

"I think he does, she's his weakness." As Jedikiah said this, the founder looked deeply troubled.

"The boys been trained all his life not to be sentimental. Attachments are a weakness, they make him easy to manipulate. If this girl is that for him, then she makes him weak. She should be eliminated."

"I agree, the girl could later cause problems for us and should be dealt with. But for now, she is useful to us. We can dispose of her when she is no longer needed." Jedikiah replied.

"Very well. I'll find the location of the rebel lair in John's head. Direct a team to bring this girl to me."

Jedikiah felt relief run through his body, a smile briefly graced his face. "And what about the other rebels?"

"They are civilian sewer rats, hardly a threat without their leader. If they get in the way, then dispose of them. But don't waste your time, the main objective is the girl."

**-TTP-**

_John had been living with James for nearly a year. They never stayed in one place for more than a few weeks, James said it wasn't safe to stay put, moving was always a better option. They mainly lived in abandoned warehouses or apartments, occasionally breaking into schools to sleep for the night. These were always the best nights; schools were warm, had clean running water, electricity, food and most importantly they were safe. John had never seen drug addicts or homeless men in schools but he saw them all the time in the warehouses he stayed in, and James had said to be wary of them because they weren't safe. _

_Over the year, he'd learnt how to pickpocket for money. He didn't have the best lift, but he was ok, had enough skill to steal a wallet from a man's back pocket without getting caught. Originally he'd refused to pickpocket, but soon hunger got the better of him and he'd learned to steal. That was another of James's rules; you don't eat unless you earn your keep. He wasn't a charity. _

_Whenever John was sure he was alone, he would practise his abilities. He knew about the telekinesis, he found that out the day he ran away, he'd gotten pretty good at using it in the past few months especially, but he'd never use it in public… it was too risky. He had also recently discovered he could teleport, when a drug addict had charged at him with a piece of glass in hand. He was still not used to using teleportation it was an ability he needed to practise. _

_John rounded the corner of the street heading towards James's usual pickpocketing spots. It was very late and he knew it was risky to be out, but James should have been back at the warehouse hours ago, he was just worried about him. As he walked a police car rounded the corner, pulling up beside him._

_"Hey kid, what are you doing out so late?" One of the cops asked getting out of the car. John was frozen to the spot, unsure of what to say. The cop took a step forward, towards John. This seemed to knock some sense into John, as he immediately unfroze and bolted back the way he had come, running as fast as his legs could take him. The cop followed suit, chasing after him. It wasn't long before the cop caught up with him, his long legs had given him an advantage in speed. Restraining the struggling boy, with both arms clasped around John's arms and torso, he waited for his partner to park the car beside them. He bundled John into the car and sat quietly next to him. _

_"What's your name kid?" he asked. _

_"I'm not a kid." John replied, still panting slightly from his struggle with the officer. He stared straight ahead, mind filled with panic._

_"Ok, but what's your name? You're safe here no one's gonna hurt you."_

_John stared at him with mistrust, before mumbling that his name was John. "Ok John, I'm Officer Reynolds and this is my partner Officer Scott. Now, when was the last time you ate something?". They ended up collecting a pizza before taking John back to the station and calling a social worker. He never did tell them his last name, but they eventually found out who he was from missing persons and he was eventually placed back into foster care._

**-TTP-**

The founder had easily found the underground location of the rebels in John's head and Jedikiah was nearly finished in preparing the team to go in.

The founder had mapped out the blueprints of the layer, highlighting optimal places to put portable T chips, ensuring that nobody could teleport in nor out during the raid.

He'd studied the blueprints carefully, ensuring that there was no way the girl could escape.

**Please review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

**If you want another quick update please review, reviews really motive me to write. Thank you to all those who have favourited, followed and reviewed. **

An alpha team was sent in to retrieve Cara. The TP's would teleport in to various parts of the rebel lair. The founder had shared locations of specific rooms found in John's head, they would teleport into their designated areas in teams of 3. They were then told to activate the T chips to prevent anyone teleporting out. At this point armed human agents would break in through the blocked entrances to the subway station, securing the perimeter. The plan was simple, grab the girl and get out.

It was 5am when Jedikiah gave the green light to the Alpha team, within seconds the TP's had teleported in. One agent from each group activated the T chips while the others took an offensive stance, immediately prepared to fight. As they entered, TIM raised the alarm, alerting all of John's group of their presence. However, TIM wasn't quick enough; few, if any of the group teleported out. While the armed agents broke in through the blocked off subway entrances, the TP agents ransacked rooms, in attempt to round people up while searching for their target.

At first, many rebels fought back, when they found Russell, he and Mike teamed up, attacking one of the Ultra Agents, briefly getting the better of him before warning shots were fired by the human agents. Immediately the rebels stopped fighting some even falling back in fear. The rebels weren't soldiers, not really. They were civilians who wanted to think they were fighters. Many of the agents were beginning to understand why John had kept his head down and his people in hiding all these years. John didn't have an army ready to fight Ultra, he was a lone soldier with many people to protect.

All of John's people were rounded up together into a corner and surrounded by Ultra agents. The agents located the girl fairly quickly. They pulled her away from the group, this caused some disruption among the rebels. Many charged forward towards the Ultra agents, yelling obscene insults. As they cuffed her, the group became rowdy and the agents struggled to maintain control. Soon two shots were fired into at the group by one of the guards next to Cara. Once again, everyone fell silent. The only noise that could be heard was a girl softly falling to the floor, her breathing erratic. Cara gasped as she saw Irene lying there, wheezing and spluttering as blood spilled out, slowly changing the colour of her jumper from a light turquoise to a heart stopping red.

"What have you done?" she turned to the Ultra agent, spitting the words at him with disgust. "What have you done?", this time her voice was raised, she charged towards him only to be restrained by the agents next to her. The human agent didn't acknowledge her. Instead he spoke into his radio, "Target acquired, we're heading back to base."

**-TTP-**

A suppression cuff was placed on Cara's right wrist as before she was dragged outside the subway station and teleported to Ultra Headquarters, she barely holding herself together. Irene was dead and she was a prisoner. What did they want from her? Was this to do with John? And what would they do to the others?

Both Jedikiah and the Founder were present as Cara was brought in.

"Sir, we have the tomorrow people and the lair secured. What would you like us to do?" The agent who spoke was addressing Jedikiah, but it was Founder who replied.

"Every last one of John's group is to be given the antidote, any who cause trouble should be eliminated." Jedikiah gave the Founder an incredulous look. "I think it's best to take away John's reasons to escape." He explained.

Jedikiah then addressed the agent behind Cara. "I trust she's unharmed?" He asked, grabbing her by her arm and gave her a once over.

"Yes sir."

"Well then, I think it's time we paid John a little visit, don't you?" his voice was mocking, an amused grim plastered his face as he stared down at Cara.

** Please review :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 **

Jedikiah led the way to John's cell, Sam followed close behind dragging Cara roughly by her arm. Cara felt sick, she couldn't supress the overwhelmingly daunting feeling that whatever Ultra had brought her here for, it was going to be bad. Her arms were cuffed behind her back and she was being dragged along by a woman, whom she could tell was well trained.

Jedikiah slowed as he approached a reinforced steel door, there were two guards posted outside. He turned to Sam, "When I signal for you, bring her in."

**-TTP-**

Truth be told, John was feeling a bit stir crazy. He had been left alone for the past two days as he recovered from his last "interrogation" with the founder. While he still felt exhausted from the amount of power he had exerted, he was itching for an excuse to get out of his room.

When Jedikiah entered the room, John sat up eagerly, looking up at the man with expectation.

"Good morning John." He said with a smile. Dread dawned on John, causing his stomach to somersault. Jedikiah didn't grin without purpose, he had an ace up his sleeve and John got the feeling he was about to play it.

"Good morning," John mumbled in reply, eyeing Jedikiah suspiciously.

"Hands behind your back." He gestured for John to turn around, cuffing him when John compliantly did so. Jedikiah placed a supporting hand on John's shoulder. "In a minute, you will see something you don't like." Jedikiah's voice was gentle as he spoke to John, his voice radiated tranquillity, like the voice a parent would use to calm a child after a nightmare. "But your behaviour will affect the outcome of this situation, so I need you to stay calm."

He walked over to the cell door, turning back to warn John one more time. "Behave yourself, John. Don't do anything I'll have to punish you for." Jedikiah hesitated for a moment before banging the door twice signalling for them to enter.

A guard entered first, moving to stand by John grasping him firmly by his arms. That's when Sam dragged Cara in, she struggled at first, until she saw John, calling his name in desperation before Sam shoved a hand over her mouth, effectively gagging her.

John's eyes widening a fraction when he saw her, he fought with himself to remain in control. This could not be happening. He tried to speak but "Sam… Please," was all he could muster. She sent him a wicked grin in return.

"There's going to be a change in regime, John." At the sound of Jedikiah's voice, John sent his fiercest glare in his direction. But Jedikiah knew John well and he could see just as much fear in the boy's eyes as anger. "Firstly, you're going to start training and sparring again with Alex and Sam every morning. At first, it will be two hours of basic exercise to improve your stamina, followed by an hour sparring and an hour of weapon training. But ratio's may change depending on where we find weaknesses. Then in the afternoon, we'll focus on accessing all that secret power of yours which, by the way, is where Miss Coburn will come in."

"Why are you doing this? You already got me. Why d'you need her?" John voice was empty, he stared down at the floor. Cara had never seen this side of John. He looked miserable, and the helplessness in his voice made him seem young, too young.

Jedikiah's eyes softened as they scanned over John. "The founder thought you would need an extra incentive to keep you from running. He's also making sure all TP's in your group are given the cure, those who fight will be executed. There's nothing left out there for you, John." John flinched at his words. Jedikiah stepped towards him, lifting his chin so their eyes met. "This is all for your own good son, you belong here."

Cara watched the scene unfold, sickeningly. She knew that Jedikiah cared for John, so how could he treat him this way. The way Jedikiah gave John caring parental gestures while telling him that his friends were going to be harmed disgusted her. She couldn't imagine how confusing it must have been for John growing up here, with a man who treated him in such a twisted way.

"If the morning training goes well today and Alex is pleased with your progress, you may see Cara at lunch before your afternoon session." Jedikiah gestured for Sam to take Cara away. "Well done, John. You handled that much better than I thought you would. Alex will come to collect you in about an hour or so, eat something before he does." As if on cue a guard entered, with a litre bottle of water and a tray carrying various fruits and cereal. Jedikiah and the guards left the room quietly, leaving John to his thoughts.

**-TTP-**

As promised, half an hour later, a man in his early 30's entered John's room. He was of bigger build than John, broader with bigger muscles and slightly taller. His hair was cut short, in the typically neat soldier fashion. He smiled when he saw John, it was the first friendly smile John had actually seen during his latest visit to Ultra.

"Johnny," his grin widened, "Get up, time for training." Alex extended his hand to help John up, not failing to notice the sombre look on John's face.

The first hour of training was mostly comprised of running laps at various speeds around the track in Ultra's gym. John had to admit it felt good to exert himself after spending the last week locked up. Although, Alex's cheerful disposition also helped to improve his mood. Alex was had always been kind and optimistic, even when John was a kid. John had been years younger than the other recruits but Alex had always looked out for him, always making sure to include him. Having said that Alex was a slave driver, John remembered just how much so when they moved on to circuit training.

The circuit was composed of skipping, inclined press-ups, burpees, sit ups and weights. Alex said to spend 1 minute at each station and with each full circle the time at each station would increase by 30 seconds. They would continue till Alex said to stop. About 45 minutes later, Alex finally told an exhausted John that they could stop. John collapsed back onto the floor catching his breath, while Alex was out of breath but still standing. He gave them both 15 minutes to recover, before Sam walked in ready to spar.

The rules were simple; no powers were allowed in to be used in fights, only your body was allowed to be used to take down your opponent (no weapons) and when an opponent taps out you release them. Other than that, anything goes. John held his own fairly well in the one to one sparring against Alex. He had taken a largely defensive strategy during their fight, not wasting his limited energy attacking and assessing Alex's fighting style. After he felt confident of his assessment, he let Alex attack again, this time blocking Alex while simultaneously delivering a flat handed blow to the neck, he quickly followed this up with a round house kick. Alex fell back to the floor, and immediately John was on top of him in the full mount position attempting to get Alex in a triangle chokehold. Alex grinned at John's effort, bridging his back and throwing his arms tight around John's chest. He blocked John's arm and placed his leg over John's ankle, bridging his back again to roll them over so Alex was in the better position. Alex and John continued to for better positions until Alex managed a sleeper chokehold, causing John to quickly tap out.

Next up was Sam, she could see John was exhausted and used it to her advantage, Sam fought viciously, attacking John with fierce blows every chance she got. As John was exhausted and Sam was in peak condition it didn't take long for her to finish the match. He could already feel bruises forming under his shirt and was not looking forward to fighting with Sam tomorrow. After the fight Sam left, she had barely spoke a word to him or Alex during the sparring. Alex quickly dismissed her attitude, "Don't take it personally, she's like that with everyone nowadays."

"She has a right to be mad at me. So do you." John replied curtly.

"It's not your fault they executed people John, you didn't know." Alex said with indifference, John wondered how Alex could talk about the execution of their friends with so little emotion. This was the first difference he had noticed in the boy he used to know. "Besides after Killian left and started blowing things up, it was only a matter of time before they started to wonder about us."

Alex then escorted John up to the range where they met with Jedikiah. He was led into a bullet proof cabin, which opened out into a shooting range with multiple targets at the end.

"When we leave, we will lock the door behind us. I will then remotely give you access to the guns, you will take the rifle and shoot at the targets. When you're done you will put the gun back, I will remotely take away your access. Only when the guns safely locked away will I unlock the door. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." John said in a mocking voice, he will still angry about this morning's surprise and his eyes glistened with defiance at the thought of using a weapon against Jedikiah.

Seeing John's eyes light up with defiance, Jedikiah slipped a hand to gently onto his neck, pulling him forward as if telling him a secret. "Just remember, if you do something stupid, bad things will happen to Cara." He whispered in the most calming voice he could muster, somehow this made his voice feel more threatening.

He locked John in the range and gave him access to the guns, feeling a tinge of regret about lying to John, saying his behaviour could protect Cara. Jedikiah knew full well it couldn't.

While John finished shooting, Jedikiah and Alex discussed his performance today. Alex was brutally honest about John's performance, claiming his levels of stamina had dropped and his fighting ability had decreased dramatically. However, he also mentioned that John had not complained once during their work out, while he needed to improve, he had made an effort in the morning session.

**Thank you for reading and please review. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

John lay down on his bed, exhausted. Jedikiah had deemed him worthy of a visit from Cara after the morning's training session; he was waiting for her to arrive.

While waiting, he checked himself over, surveying the damage from this morning. Sam had left some pretty hefty bruises, littered all over his torso. His throat felt sore from the sleeper chokehold Alex had used and when he looked in the mirror he could see the faint bruises caused by the same hold. He had forgotten how intense Ultra training could be, his training routine with the tomorrow people had been nothing compared to this.

Jedikiah entered the room with a tray carrying two plates of food, followed by Cara and the two armed guards escorting her. He placed the tray of food on the bed, beside John.

"As a reward for your cooperation this morning, I have arranged for you and Miss Coburn to have lunch together." He gestured to John to give him his hand, slapping a cuff on it when he did and attaching the cuff to the railing of the bed. He gestured for Cara to do the same, cuffing her to the opposite side of the room and handing John and Cara a plate of food each. "You have half an hour and remember we are watching you." He indicated to the camera above the door. "And we can hear you." He smirked as he and the guards left.

"Did they hurt you? What happened?" John urgently asked, as soon as they were alone.

"No, no. I'm ok. Irene isn't though. They shot her." Cara couldn't look at John as she said it.

"Oh." Now it was John's turn to avoid her gaze. "Did anyone else get hurt?" His voice was quiet.

"I don't know, they separated me from the group so I'm not sure what happened…What happened to your neck John?" She pulled forward trying to get a better look, eyes ablaze with concern.

"It's nothing, it was just from sparring with Alex this morning." John shrugged noncommittally. Cara was not satisfied with the answer but thought it best to move on, she didn't want to argue in the short amount of time they had together.

"D'you know what Jedikiah's got planned?"

"No. I'm not sure what he's up to, but I've got a feeling it's gonna be bad." John voice sounded empty, like he had resigned himself to defeat before the afternoon had even begun.

"I'm scared, John." Her voice cracked as she said it, her eyes staring at John with such intensity, such expectation, that he didn't know how to respond. He couldn't lie to her. Everything was not going to be ok. Escape attempts from this part of the building were near impossible and if they were caught it would be worse. He glanced at the camera, knowing what he would say could cause them problems, but she needed to hear it.

"I know." He looked her in the eye. "But, you can't give up Cara. I don't think they'll kill you, not if they're using you to control me. And that's what's important, staying alive. You have to stay alive, because they can't be on high alert for ever, one day they will slip. And when that happens, promise you'll run. That you'll take any opportunity to you can to get away from here."

She stared at him for a moment, tears still in her eyes, considering. "Only if you do the same. They don't own you John, don't let them take your life away from you. Promise me, John."

"I promise." The words were barely above a whisper, but Cara heard them.

"I do too."

"Well isn't that sweet." Both John and Cara looked to see Jedikiah standing in the doorway. Cara was removed from the room. "You're not really listening to her are you, John" He sounded angry. "I rescued you, from your foster father, who was probably going to beat you to death. I saved your life, brought you here, where you were given enough to eat, taught how to defend yourself, given a good life. You threw it all away, to live underground like a rodent." Jedikiah was now yelling, John had never seen him lose his cool before. "I am not trying to take your life away John, I'm trying to give you a better one."

"You experimented on me." John said, defensively.

"You volunteered; I didn't want you to do it. I gave you plenty of chances to opt out."

"You made me kill your brother, my friend."

"I had orders from higher up. I couldn't stop that. But it doesn't change the fact that Ultra gave you enough food to eat, an education and a safe place to sleep at night when no one else wanted to help you." With that Jedikiah walked out, leaving John still chained to the bed.

**-TTP-**

When John entered the room, Cara was already tied down to a chair, the chair was secured to the floor. Her bounds looked tight, she was well secured. Two guards escorted John the seat opposite her, uncuffing his hands from behind his back and securing them to the arms of the cold metal chair. His chair faced hers and he could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at him.

The founder was present, watching them both with amusement. He briefly wondered how long John would hold out before new found abilities took control. Looking at John's face now, he didn't think he'd be waiting too long and this concerned him greatly. Jedikiah was supposed to have taught him better, emotions were weaknesses. This girl made him vulnerable and John should have known better than to let that happen.

Electrodes were placed on his scalp monitoring his brains electrical activity, his heart rate and blood pressure were also being monitored throughout the session.

It had been decided to subject Cara to physical pain, if the founder attacked her mentally she wouldn't last long enough, he wouldn't have enough time to assess John's power and how much control he had.

The guards started her off with a beating, John was distressed by watching this but not nearly distressed enough to cause a spike in his power. After 10-15 minutes, the guards decided to intensify the experiment, whipping out a knife and gently running across her skin, staring at John with a broad smirk across his face. John thrashed against his bounds, giving the guard a murderous glare. The founder smiled at his behaviour, enjoying it.

The guard increased the pressure, cutting against Cara's skin, causing her to cry out. John struggled with his bonds more violently, the guard behind him held him back, restricting his movement. The blade was pressed harder against the already formed cut, Cara screamed, tears streaming from her eyes. This was enough for John, power pulsated from him, blasting from in a circular motion pushing everything in the back towards the walls. His heart rate raced at 190 Bpm, unhealthily high.

Cara's chair had been blown back, wrenched from the metal bolts previously securing it the floor. She must have hit her head as she was blasted back, because she was unconscious. John stared down at her in horror.

The founder was impressed, Jedikiah really knew how to motivate John, the girl proved very effective. When John had lashed out, he had recovered fairly quickly, using his telekinesis to hold himself mid-air, preventing his body from crashing into anything.

He noticed the guard who had been cutting Cara, he had been badly impaled by the knife he was using. This was good, it could mean that John had subconscious control of his abilities.

"Enough for today." He ordered medics in to take care of the wounded, while John was escorted back to his room. A medic had accompanied him, monitoring him for symptoms of shock.

**Thanks for reading. Please review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The results of John's various scans were sent to the Ultra labs on 5th floor for analysis. Lab technicians were to work overnight to analyse the data and explain it in a detailed presentation the following morning. The data was important to the founder and Ultra workers were to make every possible effort to draw assumptions from it before the deadline.

A team of executive Ultra workers, including the founder and Jedikiah, arrived in the board room for the presentation early the next morning.

"It is clear that, for the moment, the subject can access his power during high stress. His heart rate had accelerated past 190 bpm, when he first accessed the power, and his blood pressure reached 160 over 80. By the time the subject had stopped using his abilities, his blood pressure had peaked at 180 over 90. All these readings demonstrated alarmingly high stress rate in the subject during the incident. If he is continuously pushed to this level of stress, the subject may be at risk of a heart attack, stroke or even mental decline during one of the sessions."

"However my team think they can fix this." He flicked to a slide showing a detailed image of the brain, which highlighted the hypothalamus and Limbic System. "Just a small adjustment to the hypothalamus, could help to regulate his heart rate, blood pressure; in fact almost all of the functions controlled by his autonomic nervous system. While the adjustment is relatively minor, the subject would need to be awake for the surgery to ensure we don't harm any other functions."

"There is no such thing as minor brain surgery." Jedikiah interrupted.

"Minor compared to the surgery the subject had to undergo for the Annex project." The doctor replied. "If the surgery was successful, and there is a good chance it would be, the subject would develop the ability to stay calm and rationale in very intense situations. Fear and stress would be almost entirely eradicated, the perfect soldier." The doctor continued through the slides, highlighting the EEG scans.

"When comparing the EEG scans with scans taken under similar conditions after the Annex project, we can see that area V6 in the occipital lobe is active, this area is known to respond to visual stimuli during self-motion. Furthermore, there is much activity in the somatosensory cortex, an area largely associated with touch and movement."

"Overall, more tests should be done to narrow down the exact areas involved. I would like to complete an fMRI scan during the next session, and also to take blood samples from the subject at various points during the session in order to monitor the subject's hormone secretion. Furthermore, I would like to request permission to alter the subject's hypothalamus."

"The board will consider your proposal and get back to you within the hour." The founder spoke drawing the meeting to a close.

**-TTP-**

Jedikiah entered John's cell, at lunch time the next day to debrief him about his session with the founder. A guard followed him in, a precaution in case John was hostile. His gaze rested on the boy in front of him, who was currently refusing to acknowledge his presence.

John had been consumed by anger since he had left the experiment room. He was struggling to control it, he knew it would be better if he could just let it go and forget about it, but he couldn't. Even after his work out with Alex that morning, the exercise had fuelled his anger rather than reducing it as it usually would. When Jedikiah entered his cell, he could feel the rage start to simmer, soon to bubble over and overwhelm him.

"John" he greeted. No response.

"The founder was pleased with your performance yesterday." John gritted his teeth at the mention of the founder.

"You said if I cooperated she wouldn't get hurt." John's voice was taut, his eyes never left the floor.

"If she didn't get hurt, you would have gotten hurt and that's a situation I want to avoid." Jedikiah's sounded impartial, like the decision didn't matter to him, like it was easy to make it. This enraged John.

"It should have been me. You hurt my girlfriend, she had nothing to do with this." He jumped up, catching the Jedikiah by surprise, hitting him in the face with enough force to knock the man to the floor. The guards were on him in a flash, one holding a gun to his neck, while the other punched him repeatedly. John remained clam, reserving his anger for Jedikiah. As Jedikiah stood up, the guards restrained him.

Jedikiah took a second to compose himself, wiping the blood from his teeth with a serviette, making John wait.

"I will not stand for such insubordinance." Jedikiah said, as he spoke more blood spattered from his mouth. He roughly grabbed John's chin, ensuring eye contact. "You will be punished for this."

**Thank you for reading and please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Jedikiah had called in on the Founder to discuss John before making any decisions on his punishment. With most recruits, Jedikiah had the authority to make punitive decisions, but with John he knew getting it wrong could cost him his job, or worse, his life.

"Insubordinate behaviour will not be tolerated, however under the circumstances, I think this needs to be handled carefully. If we are going to continue trying to make him more powerful, it might be best to get him onside, to make sure he isn't a threat to Ultra."

"What are you suggesting Jedikiah?" The Founder asked, intrigued.

"The same method we used to train him and the others as a child, re-education. We will punish him, break him, make sure he feels alone, and then I'll be there to put the pieces back together, to help him see Ultra in a new light. As you know sir, desperate people are easy to manipulate."

"Very well, Jedikiah. I want John working with Ultra, do whatever you need." The Founder lowered his voice, speaking calmly. "But if you fail Jedikiah, and the boy rebels, on your head be it. Over the years, I have used a lot of resources to make that boy perfect and they will not be wasted. It was very embarrassing when you let him get away the first time, I will not be pleased if you let him run away twice."

"Yes sir." Jedikiah nodded, exiting the room.

**TTP**

When Jedikiah returned to John's cell, two human agents and Sam followed him in. John was still handcuffed to the bed in a rather uncomfortable position, the way Jedikiah had left him two hours ago. The time alone had just made John more angry, he thought about what Ultra had done to him, to the other TP recruits, to Cara… It made his blood boil.

As Jedikiah entered, John tilted his head, his jaw set defiantly. He sent a hateful glare in the man's direction. The human agents undid his handcuffs, one of them hauled John off the bed, pulling his hand behind his back and forcing him to face Jedikiah. John, who had lost all sense of self-preservation at this point, smiled brilliantly, hate still consuming him, a malicious sparkle in his eye.

Jedikiah had never seen John so angry, so hateful, his punishment was definitely needed, to remind John who was in control and where his loyalties lay.

"Clearly you don't regret your little temper tantrum earlier."

"Punishing me for violence, with violence? Cause that's not hypocritical at all." Jedikiah just shrugged.

"A soldier doesn't point a gun at his commander, John. Any violence from you towards any Ultra superiors is mutinous. Mutinous acts will not be tolerated." He signalled for Sam to come over, she stood at his side awaiting the command to begin. "Besides you've only ever learned through violence John, other punishments don't work."

"I'm not your soldier anymore, I'm not on your side." John replied coldly.

Jedikiah indicated for Sam to begin. She had clearly been waiting for this a long time, because when she started hitting she didn't hold back. She aimed a few blows at his gut, winding him before starting on his face. She punched hard, sometimes causing both John and the human restraining him to stumble backwards.

She paused for a moment, allowing John to catch his breath, instead he took the opportunity to defiantly spit at Jedikiah. He stared up at him, gritting his blood stained teeth.

Sam telekinetically slammed John into the wall. He felt her slowly push a wall of pressure onto him, crushing him, rendering him unable to breath. Sam was dragging it out, inching the pressure forward, allowing claustrophobia to consume John before releasing it. She brought him closer to her, before slamming him back into the cell wall with greater pressure, causing John to cry out in pain. Smiling to herself, Sam repeated this process a few times before Jedikiah indicated for Sam to stop.

Jedikiah stepped over to a concussed John, roughly grabbing his chin, forcing him to look Jedikiah right in the eye.

"Pretty soon, you will be my little soldier. Obeying every order and command."

**TTP**

As they exited, Jedikiah spoke to the guards.

"This room is quarantined. It is off limits to all people for the next 4 weeks. Food will be delivered while he is asleep. He will see no one, till I can be sure that all traces of mutiny are out of his head."

Jedikiah walked away. He was sure his plan would work. It always did. At Ultra, the thing John had craved above all was friendship and human companionship. Removing all human contact from his life would break him, hell, it would break anyone. Jedikiah always found the recruits a lot more agreeable after a stint in isolation. _A few weeks alone and the kid will probably be begging to join Ultra, just so he could talk to people, _he thought.

**TTP**

Since arriving at Ultra, Cara had not been given a chance to shower at all. Blood now matted he hair and covered her clothes, her clothes reeked of sweat and it was all starting to take its toll on her. She missed John and the others and her bed, she missed having freedom to do what she wanted and to use her powers. John had always told her that she wasn't like him, that she was a civilian and not a soldier and Cara had always refuted this, saying she was strong, she said that she was a soldier and she could fight Ultra. But Cara was beginning to see that John was right. She couldn't hack this life.

The Founder entered Cara's cell, he looked down at the girl curled up trembling in the corner with disgust. This girl, this weak girl was who John had chosen, he had dismissed all training and life experience that told him alone was safer, to be with this pathetic girl. He sat on her cot, watching her cruelly, her eyes were wide with fear.

"Why would he pick you?" The Founder wondered aloud.

_Because I love him, and he loves me. It just happened it wasn't a choice. _The Founder heard her as she thought this, she was too afraid to talk, but he could still get answers from her.

"Why are you so interested in him?" Cara asked, suddenly feeling brave. "You wouldn't be here if you just wanted to train him, your trying to understand him. I don't understand."

"I don't imagine there's a lot you do understand, Miss Coburn." The Founder replied. He was silent for a moment. There was no harm in explaining this to the girl, John would only see her from now on if she was being tortured and she was probably going to be killed soon anyway. Besides that, a cruel part of the Founder, wanted Cara to know what John was.

"He's my son, Miss Coburn." His eyes lit with amusement. "The boy you're in love with, whom you naively think will rescue you, is mine."

**Dun Dun Duuun! Predictable plot twist has been revealed. Please review and thanks for reading. **


End file.
